Pedro Rizzo

The official-weigh in results for tomorrow night’s Affliction: Banned event, which takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, are below. All fighters successfully made weight with the exception of Justin Levens, who weighed-in four pounds over the middleweight limit. However it’s unknown whether or not his bout against Ray Lazama is being fought a catch-weight or not.

In more unfortunate news, the scheduled bout between PRIDE veteran Aleksander Emelianenko and one-time UFC heavyweight title challenger Paul Buentello has been scrapped. According to the California State Athletic Commission, Emelianenko failed to meet the necessary licensing requirements. A replacement opponent for Buentello will not be able to be found in time.

Tickets still remain on sale for the event. The pay-per-view portion of the card will begin at 10 PM ET and FOX Sports Net will be airing three preliminary bouts tomorrow night as well. The promotion intends to televise as many fights as possible, including those prelims that will not be featured on FSN, which will act as swing bouts for the PPV.

Pedro Rizzo throws a right hand at Josh Barnett. Photo property of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship title contenders Pedro Rizzo and Josh Barnett will most likely collide in a rematch of their February 2001 bout when Affliction Clothing holds it’s first-ever mixed martial arts show on July 19th at a venue yet to be determined.

The news comes from Sherdog.com, which confirmed the fight with Rizzo himself. Barnett informed MMA Weekly on their nightly radio show that a fight with Rizzo was “pretty much a done deal.”

“I knew about this fight for some time, but was hoping to disclose it,” Rizzo said in the report. “I was hoping to face him due to the fact that he is one of the top five heavyweights, a very tough guy. This is my chance to return to the top, and I will seize it the best way.”

Despite inking a new three-fight deal with SUN Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of Art of War in December, the rematch against Barnett will be Rizzo’s first fight this year. The Brazilian has won his last two fights, most recently stopping fellow longtime veteran Jeff Monson with strikes in September of last year.

Barnett was part of the inaugural “Sengoku” show in March, submitting former judo standout Hidehiko Yoshida with a heel hook in the third round. Before then, the former UFC heavyweight champion had not fought since losing a unanimous decision to current UFC champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE Shockwave 2006.

The part-time professional wrestler will first try his luck against Monson on May 18th in Japan before going up against Rizzo.

The show will be headlined by a heavyweight showdown years in the making as former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko will take on former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. A number of other notable fighters are expected to compete on the card as well including Matt Lindland, Mark Hominick, Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski and Aleksander Emelianenko.

MMA on Tap has learned that Pedro Rizzo has signed a new three-fight deal with SUN Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of Art of War.

Rizzo has fought twice under the Art of War banner. He defeated Justin Eilers in the promotion’s inaugural event in March by unanimous decision and scored a stoppage victory over Jeff Monson in September.

The former UFC title contender has fought and beaten a remarkable list of heavyweights throughout the course of his career, including former UFC heavyweight champions Ricco Rodriguez, Josh Barnett, and Andrei Arlovski.

MMA Weekly is reporting that Fedor Emelianenko will not be fighting in Japan on New Year’s Eve despite heavily circulating rumors.

M-1 CEO Monte Cox said that Fedor had been offered a fight but his management team turned down the offer because of a lack of time:

“No. It’s not going to happen,” said M-1’s president and CEO, Monte Cox, of the proposed fight. There was an offer. We looked at it. We tried to see if it was possible, but in the end, there just wasn’t enough time to pull it off. It wasn’t a bad idea. It was kind of planned to be a sort of goodbye to Pride fans for Fedor.”

Brazilian online magazine Tatame had a quote from the manager of Pedro Rizzo who stated that his client received an offer to fight Fedor”

“Actually, we received a proposal, but we can´t say from whom. Now it´s too early to speak”, said Jorge Guimarães, Rizzo´s manager.

For Rizzo, the cowboy hat says one thing. “I’m ready for a Texas shootout,” smiled Rizzo, undefeated as a world kickboxing champion. “They tell me that cowboys are tough guys, so I’m here to prove, I’m a touch guy. I don’t know if anyone will believe the Cowboy part, but they will know I’m a tough guy when it’s over.”

The MO Team League in Brazil, a team-based MMA league very similar to the IFL here in the United States, announced the head coaches and rosters for it’s first four teams as well as the fight card for it’s debut event on September 29 last Saturday according to MMA Weekly.

The league will use the five main weight divisions similar to the IFL. The inaugural event for the league will place on August 11th when Silva’s Hurricane face off against Bustamante’s Wild Fire. The second event will be held on September 29 where Nogueira’s Avalanche will take on Rizzo’s Tsunami.

- A Croatian news outlet reported yesterday in an interview with Mirko Cro Cop that his next fight would take place at UFC 75, the organization’s next event to be held in England. However in the latest issue of Japanese magazine Kamipro, Cro Cop’s manager Ken Imai stated that his client will most likely fight on the undercard of Randy Couture and Gabriel Gonzaga’s heavyweight title bout at UFC 74 in August.

- The Fight Network is reporting that Nippon Gaishi Hall, the proposed site for the PRIDE Lightweight Grand Prix scheduled to begin on July 16th, has now removed the event from it’s calendar.

The promoter was having trouble clearing enough homes to make a pay-per-view telecast fly and decided to move the show, originally scheduled for June 30 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, to August.

The new date is Aug. 18. Pedro Rizzo versus Jeff Monson remains the show headliner, with Jeremy Horn, Carlo Prater and Jake Shields also on the card.

- UFC veterans Wes “The Project” Sims and David Loiseau will appear on the upcoming Art of War 2 show May 11th in Austin, Texas.

- In a recent interview with TATAME, Pedro Rizzo, told the site that his next fight could be in June against Aleksander Emelianenko.

- Tito Ortiz was a no show yesterday for the weigh-ins for his bout with UFC president Dana White. White was on hand for the weigh-ins as he tipped the scales at 196 lbs. Once again the fight has been called off and this time the NSAC was unhappy with Ortiz as he wasted their staff’s time.

Former UFC star and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu legend, Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo, is set to challenge former UFC Heavyweight Contender, Justin “The Hammer” Eilers, in the main event when Art of War, Undisputed Arena Fighting Championships premiers at Dallas’ American Airlines Center on Friday, March 9th 2007.

Rizzo and Eilers are set to battle for the newly formed IFA (International Fighters Association) World Heavyweight Championship. Their championship bout will be one of ten exciting Mixed-Martial Arts fights on the card that will feature eleven Americans and nine International fighters.

Art of War, set for the circle cage beginning at 7:30 p.m., is being produced and promoted by the Sun Management Group, Inc.

- Icon Sport will be holding an event February 9th and the headline bout will be a battle between UFC and Pride veteran “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and Trevor Garret. Also on the card will be Renato Verissimo, Jeremy Williams, and Scott Junk.

- UFC veterans Justin Eilers and Pedro Rizzo will fight March 9th at the American Airline Center. The fight will take place in the new organization dubbed the ‘International Fighters Association’ and it will be televised on HDNet. HDNet previously televised the WEC until it was purchased by the UFC and moved to Versus. The matchmaker will be UFC and Pride veteran Guy Metzger and the ring announcer will be Bruce Buffer. Here is the current card…

- MMAWeekly has Luke Cummo vs. Josh Haynes and Wilson Gouveia vs. Hector Ramirez rumored for the UFC Fight Night 10 card on April 5th. Also rumored to be on the card is Josh Koscheck and Kendall Grove.